LAHORE: The two-day Children`s Literature Festival concluded offering a clear message for children to become imaginative and study beyond textbooks to know about the world.

Over 50,000 children belonging to different schools from all social backgrounds participated in the two-day festival that staged some 36 sessions.

The children enjoyed Daastangoi (story telling) and motivational interaction with Adeel Hashmi.

The primary school level kids enjoyed theatrical performance on `Tot Batot Ki Kahanian`.

Students also participated in the digital literacy activities aimed at engaging them in digital and tech-enabled calligraphy workshops. The potters from Harappa engaged visitors in recreating seals from the Indus Valley civilisation.

Oxford University Press managing director and CLF`s co-founder Ameena Saiyid discussed impor-tance of the children`s literature and libraries in Pakistan.

Zubaida Mustafa, Samar Minallah, Arfa Syeda Zehra and others also inspired children with their talks. Singer Ali Hamza presented `Hamari Nazmein Sur Key Saath`.

Talking to Dawn, young student Railyd said it was so interesting to be part of the CLF and stressed that the legacy must go on.

The children lauded the festival and demanded that this type of festivals should be held more frequently.

`We enjoyed a lot while being part of the festival at a wonderful heritage site,` a child wrote.

Some foreign visitors, including Chinese, had also written comments in their respective languages.

Speaking to Dawn, CLF founder Dr Baela Raza Jamil said the framing of the festival in collaboration with the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) had taken the festival to a new scale the largest children`s literature fesdvalin the country.